In a typical shower or tub stall defined by a rear wall, two end walls, and an opening, a shower curtain is suspended from a shower curtain rod extending across the opening. The curtain is usually a flexible member which is slidably mounted to the rod by a plurality of hooks which is slidable along the outer surface or in an elongated slot provided in the rod to open or close the stall opening. A problem with this typical arrangement is that when the curtain is fully drawn across the stall opening, the edge of the shower curtain does not butt closely against the end walls of the shower stall to seal against leakage between the ends of the shower curtain and the end walls. An additional problem encountered in a typical installation is that in order to slide the shower curtain across the opening to open or close the opening, it is usually necessary to directly grasp the curtain material by hand below the hooks and slide the hooks along the rod by pulling on the shower curtain. Such "pulling" or "tugging" on the curtain tends to canter or tilt the hooks against the rod in such a manner as to cause binding the hooks to the rod and thus impede the sliding action of the hooks along the rod.
There are many prior art devices which purport to solve the problem of sealing the enclosure to prevent the water from splashing onto the surrounding floor. One such device is a sliding or hinged door. However, such doors are relatively expensive, usually require a professional for the installation, and are permanently installed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,878,487, issued to Foote on Mar. 24, 1959, discloses a shower curtain adapter which hooks onto the curtain rod and is positioned against the inside surface of the curtain. The adapter includes a triangular frame which must be provided with hinge joints so that it can be pivoted inward into the shower enclosure and support the edge portion of the shower curtain so as to positioned the edge margin of the curtain in close proximity to the wall of the shower enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,409, issued to File et al. on May 31, 1983, discloses a shower bender for holding an end portion of a hanging shower curtain in close proximity to a vertical wall at the ends of a shower enclosure to prevent shower water spray from splashing outside the enclosure from between the hanging shower curtain and the enclosure end walls. The curtain bender includes a primary arm and a secondary arm. The primary arm extends normal to the end wall of the enclosure, and the secondary arm is pivotally mounted to the primary arm by a hinge which extends the secondary arm parallel to the end wall of the enclosure. The primary arm is comprised of a plurality of segments which are hinged together. Such structure is complicated by the use of the many hinges and is also made very expensive because of its reliance on the many hinges. It is also noted that in drawing the shower curtain to its open or closed position, one would tend to grasp the curtain material in the "tugging" motion described previously.
As can be seen from the above discussion, none of the aforementioned patents provide a simple curtain support member having no movable or hinged parts and which provides a means to slide the shower curtain in open and closed positions without the need to directly grasp the curtain material.